Impact Of Childhood Hunger Essay

The Impacts of Childhood Hunger
When most people think of where a hungry child lives, they often think of a child that lives in a poor, developing country. They often don’t think of a child who lives in one of the most developed countries in the world, like the United States. Childhood hunger impacts one out of every five kids in the U.S. That’s about 15.8 million children who go hungry. There are some programs targeted to end childhood hunger, but hunger continues to negatively impact the physical and mental well-being of children.
Childhood hunger has been well researched over the years, and there is much up to date data out there. Many scholars and scientists agree that children who aren’t getting enough to eat relates to health and overall

The Feeding America Program states that “Children growing up in food-insecure families are vulnerable to poor health and stunted development from the earliest stages of life” and that “food insecurity among young children is associated with poorer physical quality of life, which may prevent them from fully engaging in daily activities such as school and social interaction with peers” (Feeding America)

Deficiency results in night blindness and other manifestations, such as xerophthalmia, which is not being able to produce tears, corneal destruction (keratomalacia) and blindness” (Sommer). Thiamin, also known asadd some things about vitamin B1 defeiceny is connected to beriberi, which can cause “weight loss, emotional disturbances, impaired sensory perception, weakness and pain in the limbs, and periods of irregular heart rate.”Edema(swelling of bodily tissues) is common. It may increase the amount of lactic acid and pyruvic acid within the blood. In advanced cases, the disease may cause high output cardiac failure and death”